A Little After Midnight
by aversive5599
Summary: "He comes home late at night to sleep when you're not aware." Set during Boruto episode 60


**UNEDITED**

Sarada's almost asleep when she hears the front door shut quietly, a little after midnight.

Debating for a few moments she inches towards her door peeping from the small crack through which she can see her father and mother standing facing each other.

Her mother takes her fathers coat as she beams widely at him,"Sarada was brilliant today in her fight."

"Hn." He responds and Sarada can't help but be disappointed by the sheer lack of interest.

"But you already knew that didn't you?" Her mother says looking up at her husband with a smile that's almost teasing,"Hiding behind the pillars was unnecessary Sasuke-kun."

Sarada's eyes widened, _Papa had been there?_

"Tch." He responds tucking away a strand of her pink hair behind her ears almost instinctively,"I wasn't hiding. Merely observing. I didn't have a lot of time."

 _He had been there!_

"I didn't tell her that you were there." Sakura says holding Sasuke's hand against her cheek and leaning into his touch ,"Because I'm sure you'll want to tell her how proud you were of her, yourself."

"I'm always proud of her." He says,"No matter what."

Sarada's eyes well up and she hastily raises her hand to wipe her tears.

 _Get it together_ , she tells herself, _you're a ninja!_

"She reminds me of Itachi." He says quietly, his thumb gently stroking Sakura's cheek softly, almost unconsciously,"She's got that quiet strength that he had."

Sarada had heard about her uncle from her mother and heard just how much her father had admired and loved him. Her mother had promised her with a tap on her forehead to tell the rest of the story later.

"Are you afraid that she'll end up like him?" Sakura asks standing on her tip toes desperately searching Sasuke's eyes for an answer,"Becau-"

"No I'm not." Her father interrupts confidently,"Because she has you."

And the smile her mother gives at that moment lights up the entire world.

"She has you too Anata." Her mother says eyes wide and brimming with tears but that bright, _bright_ smile still on her face,"And she loves you more than anything else in the world. And no matter how far you go Sasuke-kun you'll always have the both of us waiting for you at home."

This time Sarada doesn't even bother to wipe away her tears.

Her father moves forward slightly pressing a soft kiss on the diamond seal at the centre of her Mama's forehead before resting his forehead on hers,"Thank you."

Sakura leans forward and kisses Sasuke on the lips, softly, gently and with so much tenderness that Sarada is forced to look away blushing furiously.

And by the time she looks up they've already broken apart but they're both staring at each other like there is nothing else in the world.

Her mama looks at papa with something so inexplicable in her jade eyes that it makes something in Sarada wonder if a bond so deep is even possible.

And her papa…

He looks at mama like she's his world.

Like she's his spring after a cold hard winter.

For someone so cold these private moments of warmth with just the two of them reassures her of everything her Mama tells her about her father. While Sarada needs no reassurance to accept how great of a ninja her father is, it's these moments that confirm the lesser known facts that her mother has shared with her.

"He's the kindest man I've met Sarada." Her mother had told her once,"And he loves us more than anything else in the world even if he can't always show it well."

And it's why Sarada hides and watches quietly from the crack of her bedroom door to spy on these moments where her father is so far away from the cold man most people seem to think he his.

Her mother is flushed as she intertwines her hand with papa's turning around to lead him to their room. Her father follows with a soft smile on his face staring behind her mother with that same gentle look in his eyes.

Sarada crawls into bed with a small smirk on her face, satisfied.

"He comes home late at night once in a while to sleep when you're not aware." Her mother had told her earlier.

Sarada rolled her eyes, Sure, _sleeping_.

And so Sarada goes to sleep thinking about baby names and true love.

Oh and also how she was totally going to win the Chunnin exams tomorrow, Shannaro!

 _That dialogue though, I swear. If it doesn't spark people to write a bajillion fanfics I don't know what will! Until then I hope you liked it! I know there are a few mistakes because it was written a rush but I'll correct it asap!_


End file.
